Finding Alignment

BRITTANY JOY FOUNTAIN is the founder and owner of Britt Joy & Co., a business strategy company. “I have an eye and a gut for cutting through bureaucracy and seeing the human. When you engage in humanness, it creates greater trust and engagement,” she says.

At her company founded in December 2022, Fountain identifies gaps, names the needs, and brings solutions to her clients in an effort to strengthen the human connection. “And that strengthens the culture and ultimately drives growth,” she adds.

WILMA had the opportunity to talk with Fountain about her background and her business.

WILMA: In simple terms, how does Britt Joy & Co. serve your clients?
FOUNTAIN: “We all have blind spots for better connections with our workforce, customers, and stakeholders. So I approach the business with a posture of staying curious on how to make things better versus saying the business is doing things wrong. Tiny, often imperceivable shifts, can create ease and balance that allows a business to perform at a higher level than ever imagined possible.”

WILMA: Immersive alignment. Temp checks. Cannonballs. How did you come up with those names for your offerings?
FOUNTAIN: “I’m a big advocate for using clear language. Ironically, my style of consulting didn’t quite fit in any named existing boxes. As I made the business more public, it became clear that traditional names didn’t roll off the tongue. So, I coined the term immersive alignment. Immersive because we are fully stepping into the point of view of someone else. And alignment because likely the business isn’t totaled. It just needs some tweaking.”

WILMA: Why did you choose to attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) Cameron School of Business?
FOUNTAIN: “I wish I had a more romantic story about choosing UNCW or my major, but they were both a result of financial pragmatism. I worked full-time to pay for school. I didn’t know there were options like student loans to expand my choices. UNCW gave me some of my best memories, lifelong friends, and my husband.”

WILMA: How did your childhood influence who you are today?
FOUNTAIN: “My childhood was beautiful but scrappy. My mom called me peanut butter, a term of endearment and a heavy responsibility. As the middle child of a single mother working three jobs–you know, that magic recipe for a lifetime supply of grit and drive–I was the stuff in the middle that holds everything together. I learned at a young age how to hone my intuition and notice the nuances of nonverbal cues to predict others’ behaviors and emotions.”

WILMA: Tell us how your mom influenced your life.
FOUNTAIN: “My late mother was a beautiful example of living a life that gives back – endless volunteering, relentless fundraising, being loud in advocacy, and quiet in giving. It was a masterclass to simply bear witness to her life. She co-founded She ROCKS, Inc. a nonprofit that raised more than $1 million for ovarian cancer research before her passing in 2018. Having a front-row seat to my mom’s philanthropy was both rich and practical. Rich from sharing in life with folks at their highest of highs and lowest of lows and practical in genuinely caring for others.”

WILMA: How has that influenced your approach to business?
FOUNTAIN: “I believe in being the same person in life as in business. Immersing myself in the perspective of the employee, customer, and stakeholder to bring alignment for the client is a reflection of my experience with a wide variety of people.”

WILMA: What has been the proudest moment in your first year of business?
FOUNTAIN: “Putting something new into the world takes a lot of guts. I’ve connected with folks across three continents and have yet to tell my story of immersive alignment to anyone who has not had it resonate in some way.”

WILMA: What’s next?
FOUNTAIN: “I don’t have goals of grandeur. I want to stay curious and continue to make real-time decisions with a long-term vision. I want to continue to be bold and generous and continue connecting, solving, and keeping the conversation going.”

To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.

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